Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Licensed concealed carrier saves multiple lives

"37-year old Lisa Harris saved the lives of multiple people after using her concealed carry pistol to take down a department store shooter in Virginia."
Don't look for this in the segment of the media dominated by liberals.

WHERE DO CRIMINALS GET GUNS?

Gun shows and purchases from lawful sources are not the biggest sources. Gun control legislation needs to focus on what is going on in the real world.  This study, however, involved only one city.  The results may not be generalizable.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

APOLOGY RE ORIGINAL POST BELOW


I have edited the post below.  In my anger, I over-generalized about Texas and its people.  The problem is abuse of public trust by the political and administrative leadership.  Power corrupts.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

DISGUSTED WITH TEXAS LEADERSHIP.

The Texas Child Protective Service scandal just keeps getting worse. Thousands of children in desperate situations are not even being seen.  The foster care system is a disaster. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/03/17/texas-foster-care-crisis-children-sleeping-in-cps-offices-again-as-more-removed-from-homes-but-state-out-of-places-to-care-for-them

https://www.texastribune.org/2015/12/17/judge-foster-care-system-violates-childrens-rights/

It's unbelievable how incompetent or uncaring state leadership is.  A tip off should have been when they hired Hank Whitman to lead the agency.  What is his background?  Head of the Texas Rangers, now retired.  No real experience in CPS-type work.  Looks like another political hack put in charge of another lets-pretend-we-care move.

"The problem, apparently, is that state lawmakers are talking out of both sides of their mouths: They say they want to hire more CPS investigators and caseworkers, pronto.
But they still want to pay them diddly-squat, even though they know that chronic low pay is a key reason many CPS workers don't hang around long enough for the paint to dry.
That does not sound like urgency to me.
Doesn't sound like a state agency ready to do whatever it takes to turn the corner."

Public services in Texas are generally pathetic.  The prison system, metnal health resources and inner-city public schools are among the continuing scandals.  Corruption of all kinds is rampant.  https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/414910/texas-has-corruption-problem
https://star.txstate.edu/2016/04/25/the-lone-star-state-of-corruption/
Texas ranks low in most measures of government services yet, it has a huge budget surplus and lots of money to throw at corrupt, political favorite, contractors.  Is there no compassion for the needs of defenseless children? How do we explain this?  Here's part of the answer.  There is a significant white supremacist presence in Texas.  See https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/active-hate-groups-united-states-2015 and map.  Blacks and Hispanics are much poorer, on average, than whites. Another is the belief that those who are poor are poor because they are lazy or mentally defective.  Affluent people are credited with working harder and are seen as genetically superior.  Most Texas citizens ae not like this, but those who are seem to have a lot of political clout, and seem to manage to get elected and re-elected.  The leadership is more interested in fighting the culture wars than in helping vulnerable Texans.

Decases ago, Texas was dominated by mostly corrupt democrats.  There was no meaningful political opposition.  Now Republicans dominate at the state and many local levels.  Corruption, favoritism, patronage, etc.
are rampant because, in part, the Republicans have so much power and control.  Many Republicans and Tea Partiers hate to spend money on the poor and disadvantaged.  Xenophobia is rampant.  Anyone who is not a conservative, white Christian is suspect. Again, this is not most Texans.
 Ironically, South Texas which is among the most corrupt areas of the state is dominated by Democrats.  It's not just the republicans.  Power corrupts and the more power the more corruption.  It seems that only the newspapers are willing to call out the politicians.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

New 2nd Amend. decision

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a ban on gun sales to patients holding a medical marijuana card is legal, ABC News reports Wednesday.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/31/us-court-denies-second-amendment-rights-for-medical-marijuana-cardholders/#ixzz4Ndx1VBLk


If that's the only reason for denial, I question the decision.  She's a lawful user of marijuana.  I have never seen a violent crime case where medical marijuana was deemed a factor.

Friday, October 14, 2016

MORE GUN CONTROL PROPAGANDA

The media are reporting that gun accidents kill a child every other day.
E.g. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/14/ap-usa-today-gun-accidents-children/91906700/   Notice how the article begins with the tragic story of the death of a 4-year old in a gun accident.  This is a common propaganda technique designed to arouse the reader's emotion rather than their reason. They claim that the data comes from the 'nonpartisan' "Gun Violence Archive." The Archive claims to be nonpartisan.  However if you go to their website, http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/you find the following:

"Related Websites

Except for the Sunlight Foundation and Officer down and perhaps Gun policy, all of these organizations are pro-control.  Check them out yourself.
For instance Armed for Reason" is sponsored by Gabby Giffords and her husband.  The "Brady Center" is an aggressive advocate of more controls.  My perusal of "Gun Policy" suggest a pro-control stance.  They are sponsored by the Sydney School of Public Health.  I've never seen a public health organization that wasn't pro-control  They s support the controversial "U.N. Program for Action on Small Arms."
 

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

MANY PD'S IN CA AND TX NOT REPORTING KILLINGS OF CIVILIANS

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/In-Texas-and-California-police-fail-to-report-9958631.php
It's disgusting that many police agencies view themselves as above the law.
The excuses given are usually lame.  In TX failure to report is a crime. Don't hold your breath on charges against any of the officials involved being filed.
The sad fact of the matter is that many politicians and people applaud unlawful shootings and get-tough tactics as a way to keep the "dangerous classes in line."  Some of it reflects a white supremacist mentality.  If affluent whites were being subjected to these tactics, something would be done. 

Monday, October 10, 2016

Sunday, October 09, 2016

TWO CA OFFICERS SLAIN, SUSPECT ARRESTED AFTER 12-HOUR STANDOFF


"Authorities early Sunday arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of killing two Palm Springs police officers and wounding a third when they responded to a domestic disturbance Saturday.
The arrest capped a nearly 12-hour standoff in a quiet Palm Springs neighborhood involving scores of police when swarmed the area after the three officers were gunned down."

Thursday, October 06, 2016

50th ANNIVERSARY OF AN OUTSTANDING BOOK ON LAW ENFORCEMENT IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY

1966 is the 50th anniversary of what is perhaps the best book on policing and the law, Jerome Skolnick's Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement in a Democratic Society.  It is not book for lawyers or law students.  It is generally about cops in the American legal system.  It only discusses a few Supreme Court opinions.  It is written by a sociologist, with an excellent understanding of the legal basics.  He throws in some history and focuses on the subculture of policing and the cops' outlook on their job.  Although much has changed since then, the basic insights of the book still run true.  I strongly recommend this book if you are interested in the topic.

See Skolnick's update at  http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4613-8312-3_10#page-1

For a review see  http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1920&context=flr

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

CASES FOR SUPREME COURT'S NEW TERM


"
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, awaiting the outcome of a presidential election that will determine its future, returns to the bench this week to face a volatile docket studded with timely cases on race, religion and immigration.
The justices have been shorthanded since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and say they are determined to avoid deadlocks. That will require resolve and creativity.
“This term promises to be the most unpredictable one in many, many years,” said Neal K. Katyal, a former acting United States solicitor general in the Obama administration now with Hogan Lovells.
There is no case yet on the docket that rivals the blockbusters of recent terms addressing health care, abortion or same-sex marriage. But such cases are rare, whether there are eight justices or nine."

This is one of the most controversial and interesting cases: "Later this term, in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, No. 16-111, the justices will decide whether to take up a baker’s contention that he should not be compelled to create a cake for a same-sex wedding."

Monday, October 03, 2016

IS THERE A FERGUSON EFFECT ON POLICING?

Latest on research on the "Ferguson Effect" on policing.

Man unconstiutionally arrested for desecrating U.S. Flag

All state and federal criminal laws must be consistent with the U.S. Constitution. An arrest and conviction based on an unconstitutional statute are invalid, unlawful and a violation of the suspect's rights.  See this blog post:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9105411478849980629#editor/target=post;postID=517519377601661238;onPublishedMenu=editor;onClosedMenu=editor;postNum=0;src=link

AL SUPREME COURT JUSTICE IN HOT WATER (AGAIN)

The issue this time is AL clerks issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
"The federal court decisions on same-sex marriage, including the ruling in June 2015 by the United States Supreme Court that it is a constitutional right, outraged him. In a 93-page concurrence to an Alabama Supreme Court decision on the matter earlier year, he condemned the gay rights movement as leading to a “wasteland of sexual anarchy” and wrote, in the context of the federal Supreme Court decision, of the “duty to disregard illegal orders.”
In Judge Moore’s view, the Supreme Court’s decision guaranteeing same-sex couples the right to marry was not binding on Alabama. Despite a Federal District Court’s order to the state’s probate judges,
Despite a Federal District Court’s order to the state’s probate judges, Mr. Moore insisted that until a final ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, the matter was still unresolved.
In January he issued his order to the probate judges, informing them that they had a “ministerial duty” to refuse licenses to same-sex couples until a state-level decision was handed down."
 UPDATE,  C.J. Moore suspended (again)